One element that is being highlighted with the emerging lockout is the abysmal spending habits of NFL players. The lockout is causing nfl players to lose their income for the year, and their lavish lifestyles typically burn up 50-60% of their salary, as the video by Butowski demonstrated. As idols for much of the population, leading these lifestyles encourages excessive spending, which will prove to be detrimental in the upcoming year.
A trend that is prevalent within popular culture today is the idolization of the rich and famous and an attempt to emulate their lifestyle. What the lockout brings to light is the fact that these players are living paycheck to paycheck even if they have a couple more zeros attached to their salary.
This cultural problem, of overspending, seems to be endemic to the American way of life. Currenly average household debt in the US is 136% of average household income. On average Americans have $10,000 in debt, with some states like Delaware having an average of $20,000 in debt per person. Dr. Jean Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University concedes that during the recession people scaled back and started to save more, but she questions if this will actually be permanent: “Maybe we’re not spending quite as much and realizing the folly of taking out a big mortgage and not saving. And we have some of this, but it hasn’t really changed the underlying psychology of Americans, so far as we can tell.”
The only shortcut to riches is to subtract from our desires- Francesco Petrarca
To continue your thinking on this subject, consider questions 4 and 5 from the discussion tab.
For additional reading:
http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2011/02/10/the-average-american-debt-over-10000/
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